All kinds of pastry, pie-crusts, under crusts, &c., are best made from Allinson wholemeal, and if much butter, lard, or dripping is used they will lie just as heavy, and cause heartburn just as much as those made with white flour.  There is a substitute for pie-crusts that is very tasty, and not at all harmful.  We call it “batter,” and it can be used for savoury dishes as well as sweet ones.

SAVOURY DISHES MADE WITH BATTER.

Fry some potatoes, then some onions, put them in layers in a pie-dish; next make a batter of Allinson wholemeal flour, 1 or 2 eggs, milk, and a little pepper with salt; pour over the fried vegetables as they lie in the dish, bake in the oven from 1/2 an hour to 1 hour, until, in fact, the batter has formed a crust; eat with the usual vegetables.  Or chop fine cold vegetables of any kind, fry onions and add to them, put in a pie-dish, pour some of the batter as above over them, and bake.  All kinds of cold vegetables, cold soup, porridge, &c., can go into this, and tinned or fresh tomatoes will make it more savoury.  Tomatoes may be wiped, put in a pie-dish, batter poured over, and then baked, and are very tasty this way.  Butter adds to the flavour of these dishes, but does not make them more wholesome or more nourishing.

STEWED FRUIT PUDDING.

Cut Allinson wholemeal bread into slices a little over a 1/4 of an inch thick, line a pie-dish with these, having first cut off the hard crusts.  Then fill the dish with hot stewed fruit of any kind, and at once cover it with a layer of bread, gently pressed on the hot fruit.  Turn out when cold on to a flat dish, pour over it a white sauce, and serve.

SUBSTANTIAL BREAD PUDDINGS.

Soak crusts or slices of Allinson bread in hot water, then break fine in a pie-dish, add to this soaked currants, raisins, chopped nuts or almonds, a beaten-up egg, and milk, with sugar and spice, and bake in the oven.  Or tie the whole up in a pudding-cloth and boil.  Serve with white sauce or eat with stewed fresh fruit.  These puddings can be eaten hot or cold; labourers can take them to their work for dinner, and their children cannot have a better meal to take to school.

SWEET BATTER.

Mix Allinson wholemeal flour, milk, 1 or 2 eggs together, and a little sugar and cinnamon, and it is ready for use.  Stew ripe cherries, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, plums, damsons, or other ripe fruit in a jar, pour into a pie-dish; pour into the batter named above, bake, and this is a good substitute for a fruit pie.  Prunes can be treated the same way, or the batter can be cooked in the saucepan, poured into a mould, allowed to go cold and set; then it forms wholemeal blancmange, and may be eaten with stewed fresh fruit.  Rusks, cheesecakes, buns, biscuits, and other like articles as Madeira cake, pound cake, wedding cake, &c., can all be made of wholemeal flour.